Crypt_blowfish is a software tool that offers advanced password hashing for software and server protection purposes.
Perhaps the most significant advantage of bcrypt (and subsequently crypt_blowfish) is its ability to adapt to future processor performance improvements, allowing you to increase the processing cost of checking a password without compromising compatibility with older password hashes. As a result, bcrypt hashes are significantly stronger than traditional Unix DES-based or FreeBSD-style MD5-based hashes.
Crypt_blowfish is widely recognized on several popular operating systems, including recent versions of FreeBSD and NetBSD, Solaris 10, and even Linux distributions that have integrated the software. Although, only some of these operating systems use bcrypt for newly set passwords by default.
This software originates from John the Ripper password cracker and is offered in the public domain so that you can use it for various reasons, including better security, compatibility, and more. The provided routines can easily be integrated into your own packages or linked into a C library, and hooks for linking into GNU libc are provided. It is essential to note that it may not be enough to simply add this code into your libc since some changes to passwd(1), PAM modules, or other elements your system uses may be necessary. However, there’s pam_tcb in the Openwall GNU/*/Linux (Owl) tcb package, which uses the password hashing framework provided by crypt_blowfish. Additionally, some Owl shadow suite patches, particularly the crypt_gensalt patch, are available from their CVSweb server.
Overall, crypt_blowfish is an exceptional password hashing software that guarantees better security, compatibility, and flexibility for various systems and software packages.
Version 1.0.2: N/A